Armed Topless Teen Free Stater Arrested in Keene

A topless teenage girl with a handgun holstered on her hip was arrested Sunday afternoon near a busy intersection in downtown Keene.

Cassidy Nicosia, 18, was arrested on a charge of indecent exposure at about 1:30 p.m. near the Main-Marlboro-Winchester streets roundabout.

Nicosia was arrested after police answered multiple complaint calls about a topless girl walking through downtown Keene with a group of armed protesters affiliated with the Free State Project, Keene police Sgt. James A. Cemorelis said.

The Free State Project is an effort to convince 20,000 people to move to New Hampshire and participate in activism and run for local and state office.

Only 743 people have made the move and another 9,585 have committed to moving since a majority of project members voted on the Live Free or Die state as a home base nearly six years ago, according to the project’s Web site.

Nicosia lists Manchester as her current residence and Houston, Texas, as her hometown on the social networking Web site MySpace.

In an online video of Nicosia’s protest and arrest, she explains why she decided to go topless in public.

“I chose to do it because this is one of the most important issues to me is equality … men can walk down the street … and, you know, not get harassed at all but yet somehow this is dirty,” she says.

Shirtless men, some holding video cameras, are standing around Nicosia during the protest. Women who are wearing tops are also standing with her.

“She (Nicosia) was the only woman there who did not have her breasts covered,” Cemorelis said.

When the police arrive, the video shows Nicosia and others in her group arguing with them and requesting to be left alone.

“In an effort to be reasonable, we asked her many times to put her shirt on and be on her way,” Cemorelis said. “She absolutely refused to do so.”

Nicosia eventually agrees to put on a top, but only after she is arrested. She gives the gun she was carrying to another member of her group before the arrest. State law does not require residents to have permits to openly carry firearms.

While going through the booking process at the Keene Police Department, Nicosia refused to provide identification, Cemorelis said.

Other members of the Free State Project have also refused to identify themselves for police and government officials. One member, Samuel Miller, who also left Texas for the Granite State, spent nearly 60 days in jail because he would not provide his name to police or a judge.

Nicosia, though, decided to provide identification after speaking with police.

“We explained to her that the crime didn’t warrant her being held on bail,” Cemorelis said. “But if she didn’t provide us with identifying information, we’d more likely than not have to hold her until she could see the judge (Monday) morning.”

Nicosia was released with a summons to appear Sept. 9 at Keene District Court for arraignment.

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13 Responses

Good for Cassidy. Laws that force women to wear shirts while men can go shirtless are discriminatory. Many state and provinces in Canada have declared women going topfree as legal or constitutional. Keene and the state of NH should follow suit.

645:1 Indecent Exposure and Lewdness. –
I. A person is guilty of a misdemeanor if such person fornicates, exposes his or her genitals, or performs any other act of gross lewdness under circumstances which he or she should know will likely cause affront or alarm.

Looks like the cops are way outta line on this one–and opening themselves up to false arrest, harrassment under color of law, discrimination based on one of the federally protected categories under the Civil Rights Act, as well as violating Ms. Nicosia’s rights as protected under the First, Fourth, Fourteenth, and possibly a few other amendments.

[…] a woman’s right to go topless (link probably NSFW). So what happens when those two things collide in one protest? “A topless teenage girl with a handgun holstered on her hip was arrested Sunday afternoon […]

Free-Stators
I read an article how back in slave days the Free Stators in Boston helped slaves fight for freedom. It is amazing how people for all these years have been fighting for what is right for all not just the chosen few. These individuals do not believe in violence and from my past history can understand that. Violence should never be a necessary part of a civilized society. On Craig’s list-Rand and Rave my letter drew harsh remarks from someone calling himself or herself a Nam Vet. He or she said that I should be over Nam as my claim grows old as the time past dilutes the effects of my four combat related disabilities. The comment was that the affects of memory walking down a path on a mountain hike should not bring back flashbacks of things in the past. I tell you this because also in today’s paper an article about head trauma and the undiagnosed head aches for a lifetime after. I have received mild and server concussions to many times to count or even receive treatment for. During a Vietnam offensive and the long wait to be relieved to go back to the hooch’s one receives many injuries and fights without even recognizing the pain or injury. The VA tells me that my head pain is imagined. The VA tells me that the Traumatic Brain Injury that took my complete memory of any part of my life before the MC is false even though the EEG shows different. The VA tells me my back pain is not there even though my ex-rays show a broken vertebra. My loss of hearing from being blown off the runway by jet blast, or hung ordinance and even enemy mortar attacks they give me a small percentage for. No matter what we as US Military Veterans have done in the line of duty equal rights must be extended to not only the Black Slaves and their future generations but to the US Military Veteran that this civilized society uses and disposes of. Veterans Administration medical misconduct is a common practice that goes all the way back to those free stator days in Boston so many years ago. The VA is a head ache that does not go away!
Newspapers will censor this opinion letter under the reason safety of the public comes first. Danger is what our government and the editors want the public to see in my character every time my name is mentioned. Harsh words by one individual will stop any responsible person from questioning these wrongs. To stop any veteran’s medical care as they have done mine for my service connected 100% disabled body cannot be tolerated in a civilized society. If I were Black the outrage would be all over the news. I am just a white person so government character assignation and to stop my medical care is acceptable. It is strange how color matters back here in the real world “USA” but over there our lives were equally tossed away for those that did not even have the willingness to fight for this nation that we all live in. The effects of PTSD and head trauma are harsh realities we as a nation cannot allow a few derogatory comments to isolate US Military Veterans from help. The Free Stator’s and everyone else should ask why editors believe to censor US Military Veterans opinion is a freedom they use? How would you like what they are doing to me to by you or your family member? Free Stators and all others in the USA exist because of we the black and white US Military Veterans.
Peter Macdonald Sgt USMC Semper Fi
465 Packers falls Rd Lee NH 03824 603-781-3839